Bounty Guard
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [AT] Falis didn't expect to be signed up as a body-guard, but somehow that's what's happened, escorting Princess Alita across the border to Grandel in the middle of a rather bloody coup de tat.


**A/N:** Written for the Mega Prompts Challenge, writing prompts 78 - multichap with between 10 and 25 chapters

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><p><strong>Bounty Guard<br>Chapter 1 – The King and the Bounty Hunter**

'Look, old man,' Falis rolled her eyes. 'I'm a bounty hunter, not a body guard. You've got the right woman if you're after a few heads, but I'm not about to go _escorting_ some princess across the country.'

Behind her, Dominikov sighed. 'Try to remember you're speaking to the king, Boss.'

The king held up a hand. 'It's quite all right,' he said to Domnikov. 'Your boss is quite right to her reluctance. However…' He closed his eyes.

'I wouldn't exactly call it reluctance,' Falis frowned. It sounded to her like the king had some sort of plan to persuade her. It'd have to be quite a good one, she thought, to cover all the bounty she would lose by accepting such a mission.

And the hairs off her head as well. Even a government would have a hard time covering _that_.

'You think I have any number of men I can assign to her,' the king agreed. 'I do – but all that's left at the castle are the foot soldiers, and they are only trained against human intruders. They will not survive the synthetic beasts in the forest.'

'You seem quite confident in that, old man.' Falis crossed her arms. 'Why point out the holes in your defence?'

'Surely your military is composed of more than foot soldiers,' Dominikov added. 'Military expeditions do tend to extend to dealing with synthetic beasts or passing through infested areas.'

'Not of late I'm afraid.' The king sighed heavily. 'Our main military force was sent to Grandel some years back along with my son – and they never returned.'

'Hmm,' Dominikov hummed thoughtfully.

'You're being awfully trusting,' Falis commented. 'We bounty hunters aren't exactly allies to the kingdom, you know. I could give that information to anyone for a high enough price.'

'No.' And it was a knowing, rational, denial. 'I have heard of you, Lady Falis. That is why I ask you, and not someone else.'

That surprised her a little. While it was true she worked entirely on slaying synthetic beasts and criminals, there was no guarantee she wouldn't seek her pay in other ways. The fact that he asked her help was testament to that as well.

'That's not a good enough reason to trust me,' she said.

The king smiled faintly. 'No,' he agreed. 'But with a coup de tat on the horizon, there are precious few people I _can_ trust. As I said, I have heard of you. I don't know if I can trust my daughter's life to you, but I know that I must and that you are strong enough to protect her. I also know that in the ranks of the enemy there is one person you will never aid, no matter what she offers you.'

Falis blinked in surprise. Most of her was tempted to ask for clarification, but the clatter downstairs interrupted her. The sound of wood and steel and stone clashing together. The cries of pain as soldier or insurgent fell.

Falis felt for her hilt, loosening the sword. Behind her, Dominikov and Pete took up defensive positions.

'Do not waste your energy defending me,' the king said. 'You must –'

'Don't misunderstand, old man,' Falis smirked, turning as the clatter drew ever closer. 'I'm getting ready to save my own neck here. And we still have a little talk to finish.'

**.**

The door fell in, but what came in weren't people rebelling like Falis, and possibly the king as well, had expected, but synthetic beasts like the ones she was so accustomed to slaying in the wild land. Part of her was grateful. Synthetic beasts were easy to deal with. She did them for a living. And she'd earn quite a bit – the perfect reason to keep slaying and not worry about the fact that she _had_ been thinking about saving someone.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, though there were bounty hunters that thought otherwise. But she was proving the king right.

Finally the last beast fell and Pete closed the doors on the noise down the hall. It seemed there was another force, engaged. Or maybe they were the ones who led the synthetic beasts. Falis had seen enough of them to know they were ruled by instinct and blood and not by their pea-sized brains.

'Shall Pete and I take a peek, boss?' Dominikov asked, sensing something on her face.

'Don't.' That was the king, sounding both exhausted and defeated, and there was no ready retort from Falis to rebuke him as there normally would have been. The synthetic beasts, now that they were dead, disturbed her. Why were they in the castle? In the middle of a populated city no less? How had the citizens not noticed? How had they not been attacked?

Falis resheathed her sword, wincing at the grime. She'd give it a good cleaning later. 'You know more than you've told,' she remarked. 'Probably smart of you not to say, but you won't convince me with what you've given so far.'

'I'm relieved,' the king confessed. 'I'm sure you have some idea of whom I meant when I said there's an enemy you will never aid.'

Falis frowned. 'I can only thing of one person I hate,' she said, 'but why do you know about her?'

'I know nothing, truthfully.' The king sighed, looking even more old and worn. 'Except that she was responsible for the destruction of your family and your village, and she has been in the castle and the city of late, sowing seeds.'

The bounty hunter's face twisted, but it seemed the king did not know anything more and so she grasped the other threads instead. 'What seeds?'

'Greed. Distrust. Despair.' The king closed his eyes. 'Anything that can descend the world into darkness.'

'Melodramatic,' Falis said, her tone a forced light like she so often practised with the criminals she had gone to in order to behead.

But Dominikov stepped forward. 'I assume you refer to the secrets of the old world.'

'Indeed.' The king inclined his head, eyeing the pair that accompanied the bounty hunter. 'I won't ask by what grace or misfortune you were made, but it seems you're good assets to your boss.'

'Friends,' Falis said, turning towards the door. It stung a little, but it could have been another test. It wasn't hard to notice, after all. Neither Dominikov nor Pete resembled humans much at all. 'They're good _friends_.'

'Yes.' The king smiled faintly. 'Good friends. I'm afraid Alita will soon lose her only one, but…' He closed his eyes again. 'I'm afraid there is no choice. She must stay out of enemy hands.'

'And why is that?' Falis turned back to the king. 'Am I to help her later reclaim her throne?' There was something more. There was definitely something more…

'Keep her safe and out of the hands of the enemy is all I ask.' The king stood up and the castle shook. 'They have brought weapons from the old world as well.'

He drew his sword. 'There is a door behind us.'

All Falis could see was the tapestry, until the king pushed a button somewhere and it opened up to reveal a tunnel beyond. A girl stood a little way down: hair long and yellow like the daffodils that grew tame in gardens. But it was fake. Dyed, though well done. She could only tell because she'd had to see through countless disguises. She looked a little startled, though expectant. She had no weapon on her: just her pretty disguise and a very real crown in her hair.

After all, the real princess would have a hard time hiding that crown while out on the road.

'Will you?' the king asked, stepping down from his throne. 'My daughter waits at the end this passage and the enemy is getting closer.'

'They've got guns too, boss,' Dominikov said, after a quick peak outside. 'Swords and flesh aren't going to be much good against them.'

Falis glanced at the door, then back to the king. 'I'm a bounty hunter,' she repeated. 'I swear no allegiance to the kingdom.'

'I know,' the king smiled, and offered something to her. She blinked: the royal seal. 'You can have whatever you desire as your prize and whatever government is in power when you come to claim it, they won't be able to ignore this.' He gestured at the tunnel he'd opened up. 'This and my daughter should be enough collateral for you.'

Falis half smiled. Indeed it was, though more because of the display of trust than anything else. 'I still think you're a fool,' she remarked, accepting the ring. 'But all right. I'll take the job.'

'You sure, boss?' Dominikov raised an eyebrow. 'This won't be like our usual jobs.'

Falis flicked her hair. 'I'm up for a challenge,' she said calmly. She was sure she wasn't fooling those two though: Dominikov and Pete. Perhaps friends was also an injustice to them. They were practically family, despite how they called her boss. She suspected she wasn't fooling the king either, for all she'd called him a fool.

The door shuddered and Pete threw his weight against it.

'Hurry,' the king said, his face relieved and accepting. No longer resigned and accepting as he'd been before. Was a deal with a bounty hunter worth so much? 'We'll handle things here.'

'Handle.' Falis closed her eyes, then opened them again. 'Yeah right.'

Regardless, she obeyed, passing the fake princess in the tunnel. 'Pick up a sword,' she advised. 'Don't just give up to them.'

Eyes wide, the girl nodded and Falis continued down the corridor without looking back. Dominikov's footsteps followed close behind, and somewhat further back was Pete, surrendering the door. But by then Falis was too far ahead to hear that, or the rain of gunfire that descended upon the throne room soon after.

She could guess though. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was leaving them in.

'Are you okay, boss?' Dominikov asked.

'Sure,' Falis said. 'Why not?'

Dominikov didn't answer that question, inside casting another one. 'I didn't think this was the sort of job you'd take.'

'I wouldn't,' Falis admitted. 'But he was too intriguing. His words…and those eyes of his.' She walked a little faster. 'Come on; let's hurt before someone discovers that hidden door.'


End file.
